I have a secret 05.15.2020

Over the past 2 months during Lockdown, we have been forced to minimize going outside unless necessary, or should we, the are certain protocols we must adhere to. The standard 6 feet apart “social distancing” term coined at the beginning of this pandemic and recently the mandatory usage of masks such as in Costco or Target. 

My secret has nothing to do with all pandemic at all. It probably is better for me that I am stuck at home. Why is that? Well, its because I started learning Japanese!

Hold up..so you’re telling me watching a bunch of anime and Youtubing “Japanese lesson for beginners” count as learning Japanese?! 

First off, yes technically… Jerk…and no I’m actually enrolled in a class. I decided to take this call after going to LVL-UP expo with the cast of ThoseNerdsOverThere https://thosenerdscast.wixsite.com/home uploading weekly episodes every Wednesdays with all you nerd themed content! Fun fact: There will be a Charity Livestream hosted by the http://www.epicfilmguys.com/  #LivestreamForTheCure May 27th – 31st! Check out their Twitter for updates! @https://twitter.com/thosenerdscast and@ https://twitter.com/EpicFilmGuys

Anyways, at the convention among all the Naruto’s, Inosuke’s, and Jailbait loli’s there was a booth for http://manga-de.com/ which is, you guessed it! Manga!…alright its an online Japanese teaching service dedicated to teaching Japanese in a way that is less structured in school and used manga as a tool to reinforce learning the material.

The instructor used Zoom meetings to practice Japanese with you on a 1 on 1 basis. My lesson is once a week on Monday and they have lessons up to 3 times a week along with free events via zoom for drawing and cooking Japanese food!

So far I have studied Japanese formally for about 2.5 months starting fully of April(trial in March) before everything got shut down, and it has been a great experience so far. I would compare it to a Japanese culture club in high school with manga mixed in and the instructor being involved in teaching students versus it being student-led. There is a textbook that I didn’t get (although I wish I did) and the lessons stretch about 45mins which going through the textbook via zoom screen share. My method of learning is a bit more interactive being that I didn’t get the textbook I write down my own notes and review using what I write down. Along with the practice websites the instructor gives you to practice on your own. There I no homework per se, but I recommend reviewing your note especially when it comes to learning the different characters.

So why now? Initially, I wanted to take Japanese when I was in high school, but my dad didn’t let me saying Spanish was more useful ( kind of wish I studied that more) but I’m pretty good at understanding Spanish because of that. In college, I didn’t need to take a language course and decided to burden myself with technical courses so I could graduate on time (delayed myself a semester because of a major switch). During this whole period I was always into anime, manga, and wanting to learn Japanese but I could never do it because I was at school full time and working part-time then full time! I felt like there was never enough time in a day to commit to learning another for the fun of it!

Low and behold it wasn’t until almost a year after I graduated when I stumbled across this booth at LVL EXPO while visiting my friends in Las Vegas. After getting roped into what I believed was a sketchy way to learn a language; I gave it a shot a decided to put my info in for a 3-week free trial at 25 mins.

The first lesson different, but in a good way…let explain we started with what kind of manga/anime you are currently reading/watching and like the mainstream trash I am, I said Demon Slayer. So then we proceeded to learn the song via the lyrics in Romanji at first/

This was honestly what I hoped for! No longer in the attitude of “Hide your interest of manga and anime in Japanese lessons” gone it was used to reinforce the whole method of this teaching. I want to say yes, I am learning although I feel like the pacing is slower, I also feel like I’m retaining more information compared to learning on my own. As well as, having someone that is a native Japanese speaker makes it a lot easier to learn the nuances of the language right away. 

Overall, I am happy I walked over to the booth and signed up. Now I am not going to say it is the fastest way to learn Japanese or most efficient, being its once a week with optional material. It is one of the less stressful ways in my book because I essentially do not have homework, I have to review on my own time which for me is less stressful because I don’t feel obligated and don’t want to make the lesson awkward( like when the teacher ask you about a chapter in a book you forgot to read). Granted this is an introductory class so there is going to be a lot less structure, but being that is the method of teaching uses your primary interest, in this case, Manga/ Anime, it makes it easier to retain the lessons.

In terms of cost, I think is it more expensive than a class because these are private one on one lesson. It cost about 80$ a month + 30 optional textbook for a 1-month meeting once a week for 45 mins. I think for now with the lack of spending on gas ( literally used to spend almost 200 on gas month) I can manage the cost.

For almost three months I have learned hiragana and number with some basic introduction and interactions, with my note close if I need to look at it. The number was surprisingly easy to remember because there are only 10 of them and they repeat with slight changes in a few.

So that has been my ongoing adventures, I will keep you guys updated with my journey through Japanese. Almost three months seems like a long time but for learning a language I think I have just scratch the surface! Until next time Matta Ne!! see you guys soon!